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How could she?A huff left her chest and Hadley shook her head.“Do you really think I had a choice?Believe I gave upthateasily?”
“Hadley, he’s a surgeon.A doctor.Under pressures and stresses we can’t begin to imagine.Did you go to counseling?Talk to your pastor?Seek help?”
Hadley lifted her hands in disgust and turned on her heel.“Yes, Mom, I did.But he didn’t.Hewouldn’t.”
“You should’ve waited.Given him more time and simply stayed separated for a while longer.You’re the one who filed, aren’t you?”
Hadley closed her eyes and fisted her hands.“Yes, I did.”
“You should’ve waited,” her mother said again.
“Yeah, well, I’m sorry I didn’t torture myself long enough for you, but when he kept sneaking around to be with his mistress, I got a little upset.”
“Hadley—”
“One person can’t make a marriage work!My life fell apart, Mom, and there wasnothingI could do to hold it together no matter how hard I tried.”
“If you’d told us, we could’ve helped you.”
“How?What could you have possibly done?Forget it.I have to go.”
“Hadley.Hadley, come back here.”
Hadley stalked back through the house to the door and yanked it open.She hurried outside, reveling in the slam of the obnoxiously heavy panel behind her that shook the front of the house with the force of her anger.
Hadley walked for a while, every step faster than the last.Eventually her upset faded, and she found herself on the sand, sitting and watching the waves until the sun got so high and hot she knew she’d burn if she didn’t go home.
She headed back up the beach and over one of the dune bridges, meandering along the boardwalk toward Nan’s.
“Haddie!Haddie, wait up!”
Hadley turned at the sound of the voice and spotted Isabel Drake jogging toward her, her growing baby belly looking like a small pumpkin beneath her shirt.Hadley managed a smile and welcomed her friend with open arms.“Izzy, it’s so good to see you!You look fantastic!”she said.“I love the new look.”
Isabel’s short platinum hair had a dramatic flair perfect for the up-and-coming artist.
“Thanks, I just had Tessa chop it.Mom hates it, by the way, but Everett thinks it’s sexy,” the woman said with a grin.“And with it growing so fast from the baby vitamins, it won’t be long before it grows out again.”
“I can’t wait to meet your little one,” Hadley said to the expectant mother.“How’s married life?”
“Better than I ever thought possible.”
Izzy looked happy.Not only happy but glowing with health and love.The sight shot a tug of envy through Hadley.
“I’m glad I saw you.Mom said you’re now a homeowner?Congrats.
“Thank you.I hope you’ll stop by sometime?I could really use the company.”And maybe with Izzy around she wouldn’t be so compelled to share secrets with a certain handsome contractor next door?
“Of course!But won’t Kyle and kids be joining you?”
Now that the dam had broken, Hadley shook her head.“Kyle and I aren’t together anymore.Today’s the day I spread the news,” she said, sounding more than a little flippant.“Feel free to tell whomever you like so I don’t have to.”
“Oh, boy.I’m guessing your parents didn’t take it well?”
Hadley rolled her eyes and hated the way her hungover brain flinched in the doing.“What gave me away?”
Bryson tooka lunch break around one that afternoon.He’d seen Hadley leave an hour or so after he’d dropped off coffee, and he hoped by now that she’d set the record straight with her parents.
The news of her situation had come as welcome surprise, and ever since last night’s dinner and her many confessions—everything from being divorced to secretly loving pickled corn—he’d found himself thinking of her more and more.Even though he warned himself off.Women like Hadley tended to go for the doctor/lawyer/white-collar type and that wasn’t him.Never had been.
